Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f Heading to Vita In US

Following much demand and a heaping helping of success for its console counterpart, a localized version of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f will finally be making its way to the PlayStation Vita sometime early next year.

Despite being a perfect fit for rhythm games, the PlayStaiton Vita isn’t exactly drowning in games hailing from that particular genre. Over in Japan, however, Project Diva f has been an absolute hit for Sony’s portable console, winning fans over with its large list of songs, beautiful graphics and fast/frentic gameplay.

Earlier this year, Sega announced that, if enough players demanded to see Project Diva f on the PlayStation 3, then they would be willing to localize the game for the US audience. Eager gamers jumped at the chance, and Sega apparently saw enough interest to make good on the promise. Back in September, Project Diva f finally made its ways to American shores and, apparently, sold better than Sega expected. The physical run for the game was limited due to its niche genre and even more niche stars (Not as many Americans are as gaga for the Vocaloids as their Japanese counterparts). However, a digital release was also made available and, between the two versions, U.S. gamers spoke with their dollars concerning the series.

The game was so successful that Sega opted to double down on their effort and investment and, according to a recent post on the PlayStation Blog, the Vita version of the game will now also be coming Stateside.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Project Diva stars the Vocaloids, a collection of fictional music idols originally created to serve as spokespersons for some autotuning software. The characters took on a life of their own, becoming adored by fans and resulting in the creation of dozens of songs, music videos and even live concerts. This inevitably led to a series of rhythm games based on the property, resulting in the most recent offering, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f. The game features a collection of around 40 songs starring Miku and some of her closest Vocaloid pals, as well as the ability to finagle your own songs, fine-tune the game’s existing levels, dress up your Vocaloids in hundreds of costumes and accessories, decorate their rooms and even interact with them in mini-games.

While there’s plenty of content fans of the Vocaloids will absolutely adore, what will matter most to newcomers is the music and the gameplay. The music is absolutely fantastic (I went so far as to import the soundtrack after spending just a few days with the PS3 version of the game), the videos that play in the background are lovely and the gameplay is challenging, yet rewarding.

Now the Vita crowd will be able to enjoy Project Diva f, too, as Sega of America Associate Brand Manager Aaron Webber has announced a US release scheduled for “early 2014,” featuring all of the same content but now in the palm of your hands.

That might sound like “pretty cool” news to fans looking for more content on the Vita, but for the rabid fans of the series living here in the U.S., I imagine this announcement triggered more than a few squeals of joy.